This week, we had our first annual planning meeting for ReflectionPoint Advisors in Miramar Beach. We flew in, brought our families for some sunshine (while it was snowing at home), and sat down to get to work.
And guess what? In the midst of strategy sessions, the whiteboarding (gotta have a whiteboard) and - yes - cracking crab at the table…
something clicked.
I love working from home.
I really do. I love the flexibility and the space to think.
And with everything we have now - AI, async tools, better systems - we can get a lot done without ever being in the same room. But here’s what I was reminded of this week:
Getting work done is not the same thing as building something TOGETHER.
There’s a different kind of energy working when you’re working in the same room.
When you’re face-to-face, things move faster, and they move differently.
Ideas stack. Conversations go sideways (in a good way). You catch things you may have missed on a call.
There’s less over-explaining.
More just… getting it. And honestly? More trust. Faster.
Especially if you’re building something.
When a team actually spends time together:
The confidence goes up
And we were told this week that it shows up for clients. They could tell we were vibing together not just vibe coding together (ha ha).
At one point, we were sitting around the table in bibs, laughing, making a mess, probably not looking like the most “polished” version of ourselves.
And I thought—
This is it.
This is where real connection happens. This is where better work comes from.
I don’t want to go backward. I don’t want to give up the freedom remote work has given me. But I also don’t want to pretend that’s enough.
Because it’s not.
Working from home is a gift.
Working together is an advantage.
And the teams that figure out how to do both—on purpose—are going to build something better.